Preseason Week 2, New Orleans Saints @ Green Bay Packers 08/19/2022 @ 7PM CST

        Welcome to the first ever "The Kneaux" joint article! In this first of many the team will dive into players, trends, or anything else that may be on their radar for the New Orleans Saints Preseason Week 2 matchup against the Green Bay Packers.

Who Shines on Special Teams?

        It is no secret that as a fringe NFL player there are MANY ways to get cut. One way to do the opposite would be to excel on special teams. Without even doing a deep dive a few names come to mind. The legendary Steve Gleason, the former great Craig Robertson, and the current special teams ace J.T. Gray. All of these guys have won the admiration of fans and coaches alike and solidified they roster spots despite not logging many minutes as starters, they were crucial to many wins in their own ways. This is what these next two weeks mean for the guys hoping to make the roster. The great thing about special teams is your actual position almost does not matter. If you can tackle, you can normally find yourself in a great position to make yourself known on kick and punt coverages. A few names I would love to see stand out in special teams this week are: Kirk Merritt, Chase Hansen, Jack Koerner, Justin Evans, and Brian Allen. I like all of these guys even if some of them are newer to the team and expect their spots to be earned through special teams play and not positional play. 

Who Plays on the Practice Squad at QB?

        I was not surprised to see Andy Dalton look great at QB, so it comes to no shock to anyone that he will be the backup QB behind Jameis Winston. I want to see who is next, who will be logging minutes in practice as the potential. I doubt we carry 3 QBs into the regular season unless something lingers with Winston but even then we have Taysom Hill. That makes the KJ Costello vs Ian Book battle all the more interesting. Currently Costello and Book are known for very different things in Louisiana. Costello is known for his record setting performance against LSU, Book is known as a turnover machine after last week. One of these guys must take weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason and make in impact in the unlikely event we need them. I still have a glimmer of hope for Ian Book, but it is going to take one bad move by him to make me ride the Costello train.

-Ethen Meyers

Dave: “These games don’t matter”

Patty: “Tell that to the players”

        Undoubtedly there are many bubble guys on the roster, and areas coaches/fans will be looking at for standouts as we inch closer to the regular season. As Dave and I have discussed, probably too often, the two positions I find to be most important this pre-season are Running Back and Linebacker. Let's dive a little deeper into what to watch for below:

Who Runs Away at Running Back?

        “Who’s the third guy!?” Wrestling fans everywhere probably feel a ton of nostalgia when this quote is heard, but it's never been more of a question than for this year's New Orleans Saints running back committee. Kamara and Ingram certainly stand out and will be your one and two, but where is the depth, and is there any punch coming off of that bench?

        Players to watch consist of Tony Jones Jr. who undoubtedly looked like the Tony Jones of last preseason in game one, does that continue, or will we be tricked into another mediocre regular season? He certainly runs hard, but what consistency will we see moving forward? In week one TJJ had 7 carries for 27 yards, looking solid in the time given. We should hope to continue to see this, moreso against some of the earlier units.

        The other guy to look at here would be Abram Smith. One could argue Dwayne Washington, but you know what you have there. Abram Smith has come in with a good bit of buzz from more of the diehard football guys, and rightfully so. Smith could provide big play ability and be the next hidden gym at the RB position for a Saints team known to find solid RB’s later in drafts. His first outing he certainly looked solid, carrying the ball 7 times for 30 yards. Once again though, this was against some of the 2nd and 3rd team units.

Who Lines Up at Linebacker?

        You know what you have in Demario, and arguable Pete Werener, (though others may claim Werner still needs to prove himself). The first unit looked incredible, and all reports from the joint practices this week are raving about how well the first team defense is playing. However, where's the depth?

        Guys to watch include Kaden Ellis, Jon Bostic, Andrew Dowell and Chase Hansen. Kaden Ellis has been surprisingly decent all around, nothing flashy but he has made the right plays. Jon Bostic is new to the team, and undoubtedly signed for depth. He has had a very up and down career, showing flashes of good play, is there anything left in the tank? That leaves Andrew Dowell and Chase Hansen. Can Hansen continue his stellar play from the week before and solidify himself as a mainstay moving forward?

-Patty V

What’s the plan at the bottom of the wide receiver depth chart?

It’s no secret that the Saints have an abundance of talent at the wide receiver position this year. A complete 180 from the mess they threw on the field last season. As a result, the question has gone from, “who is going to catch passes?” to “who makes the cut?” In my opinion, the Saints should keep six guys at the position. Seven at the absolute most. The problem is, there is so much

talent every other position group, outside of linebacker, that the team must be very particular about the number of guys they keep at each position. As it stands today, I believe the six guys should be Thomas, Olave, Landry, Callaway, Harty and Smith with the only “locks” being the first four. What I’m looking for this week is to see whether anyone else throws their name into the mix for the 5 th & 6 th spots. I’ve made it very clear that these guys aren’t getting a fair shake by having to play with Ian Book, so they’ll have to make the most of every possible target and make contributions elsewhere. I believe a guy to keep an eye on is Rashid Shaheed. He’s the FCS all-time leader in career kickoff return touchdowns, and if he can make a few splash plays this week in the return game, he just might find himself in talks for one of those coveted 53 roster spots.

-David Rainey

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